Memories of Grandeur
by incongruous irrelevance
Summary: That arrogant, pig-headed son of a..." she muttered "LILY!" My version of how Lily and James got together... fluffy cheese no I don't actually mean fluffy cheese got them together, rather that this writing is rather fluffy... and cheesy. One-shot.


WARNING! WARNING! massive fluff alert. This is fluffy cheese… wow that really doesn't sound very appetizing… but I think this story is slightly more palatable than fluffy cheese suggests.

* * *

"HOW DARE YOU!" and his wand was suddenly at Snape's throat and his voice dropped to a deadly whisper "Take that back!"

Unfortunately for James, Lily Evans walked around the corner at this precise moment "Potter! What on Earth do you think you are doing! Release him at once!" Only then did James become aware that one of his hands was clenched tightly around Snape's collar, cutting off his air supply, while his wand, clutched in his other hand was digging into Snape's throat. At the sound of Lily's voice Snape smirked smugly at James, though Lily was oblivious to this, her rage focused entirely on James.

James quickly became aware of the compromising situation Lily had found him in, after he had expressly promised her the day he had become Head Boy to never touch Snape again. He was in trouble. And Snape knew it.

"Lily… It's not what it looks like… I mean it _was_… but it wasn't…" James sighed, quickly dropping Snape to the ground.

"Spit it out Potter… explain to me why you are wandering the hallways at this hour, why you are trying to lie to me and most of all... why you were about to attack Severus when you promised me" her voice caught slightly "when you _promised _me that you would never do it again. Go on…" she looked at him scathingly. Neither of them noticed that the subject of their argument had scampered away.

"There is more to the story than what you just saw Lily, just as there is more to me… you just refuse to see it" James replied angrily

"Oh really… would you care to enlighten me then?" she replied spitefully

"He insulted one of my friends" James said, as if this explained everything.

"What could he have possibly said that would warrant you hexing him into oblivion?"

"He said… ah I can't tell you" he said, rubbing his hand through his hair in frustration

"Oh?" was her only reply, her disbelief clearly evident

"It is not my secret to tell" he replied, frustrated

"Argh" Lily groaned loudly "that's what I have always hated about you Potter, you always pretend that there's some noble reason that you pick on people, but the truth is you're just a bully!"

"I am NOT a bully. Why are so prejudiced against me? Ever since I met you all you have done is shout and scream at me. Why? What did I ever do to you?" James asked plaintively, his bravado worn down, leaving only raw nerves.

Lily gave a rather undignified snort at this, "of course you wouldn't remember _that_, you insulted me before you had even met me… and the fact that you don't even remember it just serves to illustrate my point, that you were and always will be a bully, and nothing more."

"That's what this has all been about?" James asked incredulously "You have hated me for six years because I hurt your pride?" Lily scowled at him; that had come out more insulting than he had intended.

"You know what… I'm done. No matter what I do, you will never see me as anything more because your pride always gets in the way" he sighed, his voice softening, after all he could never stay angry at her for long. "I know now that nothing will ever make a difference. So I will tell you the truth, with no hope or agenda. You want to know what I said when I first saw you?" He paused as Lily interjected

"I know very well what you said!" she scowled

"No. You don't. I first saw you when you were saying goodbye to your parents, I could see the love you had for them shining through you, and you were truly the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life and I said as much out loud, without intending to. Sirius overheard me, and if you know what he is like now, you have no idea how bad he was then! He absolutely tore me to shreds for that comment, he teased me ruthlessly. When you overheard me I was venting off steam, none of the comments I made were really directed at you. Sirius had just annoyed the hell out of me and it was an act of self preservation to get him to think of it all as a joke. I know that is no excuse, but that is all I have to offer. But you know one thing is for sure, I have been regretting those comments every moment of every day since… I said it because it prevented me from getting to know you as a person. I had hoped that one day you could forgive me, that I could finally know you for you, and that you could find out who I really am, instead of just who you _think_ I am." He took a deep breath, he was on a roll now and he wasn't going to stop "I know now that that day will never come, so I just want to let you know in all sincerity that you are the most intelligent, beautiful, amazing person I have ever met, that I'm ever likely to meet. Even though I know you hate me with a vengeance, which you probably have every right to do, I think the world of _you_ and that will never change." With that he turned and walked away, his dejection showing in the set of his shoulders and the way he walked. If he had turned, he would have seen the tears streaming down Lily Evan's face, and this might, oddly enough have given him reason to hope that there was room in Lily's heart for him. But he didn't turn. He just kept on walking.

Lily didn't quite know what hit her, she was in total and utter confusion, somehow she made it to her bed though if anyone later asked, she wouldn't be able to tell how she got there. She flopped into bed and felt her pillow go wet, she cried herself to sleep, still not entirely sure why she was crying.

* * *

By the next morning Lily had quite convinced herself that it was all a joke. Potter was just trying to get into her head, that was all. She really did excel at lying to herself.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs her friend Alice Longbottom beckoned her over, she paid no attention what so ever to the chatter of the other girl, her eyes scanned the room. She found the object of her scan before she had consciously realised what it was she was searching for.

She was right, she gloated to herself, it was all a joke; here he was walking towards her ready to ask her out again in another insane way. Stupid Potter. Getting her all riled up like that, she was definitely going to give him a piece of her mind when he asked her. Before she even realised it he had walked past her, steadfastly ignoring her without even a glance in her direction. In shock she finally reconciled herself to the fact that he hadn't seen her, that he was not in fact ignoring her.

By the end to the day, there was no way she could lie to herself any more, he was ignoring her. What's more, she realised, he had been entirely serious last night. Her reverie was interrupted by Alice, "What's is wrong with you Lily? You have been out of it all day, and don't think I missed you walk in last night, you were bawling your eyes out. What happened?" This was too much for Lily, and the tears began to fall once again. Not wanting anyone to see her in that state, especially _him_, she made a dash for her dorm, Alice hot on her heels. As she made it to her rooms she sunk to the floor, letting the torrent of tears explode. She felt Alice's arms come around her as she muttered incoherently Alice could have sworn Lily had said "James doesn't love me anymore" but she had to have misheard… hadn't she?

"Prongs, what happened between you and Lily?" Remus asked as he and Sirius cornered the sullen boy in the dorms. "Nothing" James muttered turning away. "Like hell" Sirius snorted; unlike James, they had not missed Lily Evans' tearful flight, nor the look she directed at James before she left. They were not stupid. "Come on James, talk to us, we want to help you." Remus said quietly as he laid a hand on James' shoulder. James promptly shrugged the hand off before saying angrily "I neither want nor need your help. Nothing happened. Now leave me alone" before he stalked off, lay down in bed and sealed his curtains shut tightly.

Sirius and Remus shared a look before they left the dorms. Neither of them quite knew what to do.

* * *

Remus tiptoed his way through the girl's dormitory, shaking his head at what he was doing, he still wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea. He finally found the person he was looking for and he cast a silencing charm before shaking her awake.

"Lily, can I talk to you for a moment?" Remus asked, Lily merely nodded, still half asleep. He quickly and silently ushered her towards the door before dragging her under the invisibility cloak that he had 'borrowed'. They had left Peter in the dorm to dissuade James from going on any midnight trips, so he wouldn't notice the missing item.

They met up with Sirius at the bottom of the stairs and they were half way to their destination before Lily was awake enough to ask questions and from then on she did non-stop. "Where are we going? Where did you get this cloak?" and the questions continued on in the same vein for a while, though she did not leave the boys enough time in between questions for them to respond. "Remus, how did you get up to my room, boys can't climb the girl's stairs?" at this point she took a breath, and Remus quickly interjected before she could continue "It doesn't apply to boys that aren't entirely human…"

"Huh?" Lily replied in confusion. It even managed to shut her up for a while, unfortunately for the boys the blessed silence was achieved a bit late, as they had already reached their destination.

They marched her into a room that Lily had never seen before, in fact she had no idea where she was, the room seemed to contain only a table that had an oddly shaped object on top of it, which was covered in a cloth.

"Lily, we are here on behalf of James" Remus winced, that had not come out right and they were going to pay for it.

Lily started ranting "He put you up to this didn't he? So it _was_ all a joke. That stupid, arrogant, pig headed, son of a…"

"LILY!" Remus interrupted before she went too far, shaking his head as he said "Lily, I know you dislike him, and Merlin knows I know why at times! But in essentials you don't know him at all, he adopts that absurd façade because he thinks it will somehow impress you. James is not who you think he is Lily, he's so much more than that and I wish you would take the time out of your blind hatred to see it."

"What do you mean?" she asked, before adding rather harshly "Of course he is! What is this? A prank or something? Are the rest of the marauders going to pop out of a closet somewhere?"

Remus merely sighed, if Lily were observing him closely she would have seen his shoulders droop slightly in resignation; Lily however was rather too preoccupied in her dislike of one James Potter, ironically if she _had_ it may have made her pause to reconsider slightly.

"Right… on to plan B" Sirius muttered.

"Lily I have no idea what happened between you and James, he refused to tell us, all we know is that he is hurt and we want to help, just as he would do for us. If you don't believe what we _say_, then we will _show_ you what we mean, we had intended this as a last resort. James means a great deal to the both of us and we would do anything a thousand times over to prevent him looking like he does now, just as he has done for us in times of need." Remus pulled off the covering on the table with a flourish "It is for this reason, and this reason only that we would even consider showing you our memories, some of which we have no desire to ever think of again."

Lily looked stunned for a moment before she asked "is that a pensieve? I've read about those, how is it that you have one?" she shook herself slightly "besides which, what makes you think, for one moment that your memories will change my opinion, I sincerely doubt anything ever would."

"Dumbledore lends me it occasionally so I can have a brief respite from memories I would rather not dwell on… perhaps that is a good starting point, it would explain a lot… though you go with her Padfoot, I have no desire to watch this" Remus took a deep breath then placed some memories within the pensieve.

Sirius took Lily's hand and they tumbled into the abyss of Remus Lupin's memories, as they arrived in the first Lily let out a shriek and clasped Sirius's arm rather tightly "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you are thinking that is a werewolf, then yes; and that there" he said pointing to a young boy "is Remus"

Quickly putting two and two together, she murmured "No!" fervently shaking her head, not wanting it to be true. Knowing what was coming she hid her head in Sirius' shoulder. Although his memory only lasted a few minutes, she was sure it would be imprinted in her brain for a lifetime. "Why did you show me this?" she asked, her voice quavering

"You'll see" Sirius replied quietly

What followed was a quick succession of many scenes from Remus' life and the disgust and distaste people showed for him if they inadvertently found out the truth. Lily actually began to understand why the quiet, unassuming boy was the way he was after a while.

The next memory showed her the night James and Sirius found out the truth…

_James and Sirius stared at Remus in shock "So it's true then, you are a werewolf"_

_Remus merely nodded, resigned he said "I understand that you want to stay away from me now, I'm used to it, so don't worry. The only thing I ask is that you don't tell anybody, please?"_

_To their credit, James and Sirius only looked befuddled; it was James who answered "Remus, although the rest of the Wizarding world may condemn you for it, I do not, and I think I speak for Sirius as well when I say this. You did not choose to get bitten, it is not your fault; I know you Remus, and one thing I know you will always be, a good person, no matter what people may say, and that is good enough for me. You will always have my friendship Remus, no matter what happens, never doubt that."_

The picture swirled, and a slightly older Remus was being tormented by Severus Snape who had somehow learned the truth. Remus himself looked close to tears, at which point James, Sirius and Peter could be seen barging in, James with his wand pointed directly at Snape. Snape began to rise above the ground…

"Wait, I remember this, it was when Severus first called me a mudblood." Lily said, tears rising in her eyes. Sure enough a younger Lily could be seen entering the scene, yelling her lungs out at James Potter.

The picture swirled once again, and they felt themselves propelled out of the pensieve. As soon as Lily had regained her bearings she headed towards Remus, who looked rather anxious. Rather than bothering with words she merely enveloped him in a tight hug, before she let him go she whispered "it doesn't change my opinion of you at all Remus, James was right (as much as she was loathe to admit anything that James said to be true) you are a good person, and you always will be."

Remus coughed in embarrassment, shuffling his feet as he muttered a gruff "thank you Lily, it means a lot" shaking himself out of the awkward moment he said "Padfoot, it's your turn now"

Sirius stepped up, repeating the process that Remus had coached him on earlier, before he and Lily once again stepped into the past

The first thing Lily saw was the Hogwarts Express, before she finally distinguished a very young James and Sirius amidst the throng of Hogwarts students, it must have been first year.

_Sirius was once again prattling on endlessly to his new friend, they had immediately got on exceedingly well, James had, however stopped listening, in fact stopped moving altogether and it was some moments, and some meters ahead before Sirius realised that he wasn't beside him. James seemed to be staring off into space, a dazed look in his eyes, Sirius looked in the same direction but couldn't see anything remarkable. _

"_What are you staring at?" Sirius asked pointedly_

"_That girl, isn't she the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?" talking to himself, more than Sirius _

"_Who? The red head?" Sirius asked in disbelief. This seemed to snap James out of his stupor, and he blushed a bright red, rivaling the colour of the girl's hair. "Ooohh" Sirius rubbed his hands together "Jamesie has a crush" he chortled "perhaps we should go inform Mrs. Potter of her future husband what do you say?"_

"_Sirius…" James growled "just leave it be" _

_Sirius merely chuckled again "Not a chance" James groaned, he would never live this down._

The scene swirled, and it took some time for them to adjust to the darkened light of the next memory

_Sirius, James and Peter were huddling in the dorm, James was staring at the full moon outside, and he let out a very loud sigh "I hate that Remus has to go through this alone, I've been doing some reading in my spare time, and while it firmly states that there is no possible way a human can be near a werewolf during a transformation, it does not stipulate the same about animals. Now this is only an idea, but… perhaps we could become animagi, that way we should be safe, and Remus would never have to transform alone again."_

"_Bu…but… but that's illegal, we would have to register and then people will know the truth and we will be in big trouble" Peter stuttered, almost incoherently_

"_You're right, it will be illegal, as such I am not going to force you to do it Peter, or you either Sirius for that matter. Personally, I think the risk is worth it, Remus' transformations are hard enough as it is, I want to support him, and if that means breaking the law, then so be it."_

"_I agree, I'm with you" Sirius interjected_

_For fear of being left out of the group, Peter had no choice but to agree as well._

"Wait a minute! You're animagi? But that's illegal!" Lily murmured in shock

"But it was the right thing to do, Remus hasn't been alone since and it has really helped him.

The world swirled around them again and they landed in a darkened room at Hogwarts.

_Filch was getting closer, they could hear him wheezing behind them; their movements were slow, hampered by the fact that they had grown considerably over the summer, and as such limbs were continually poking out of the invisibility cloak._

_Knowing that they had little time, James grabbed his friend's robes and quickly dragged them into a nearby room. They all held their panting breaths as Filch ambled by muttering to his cat "where are they Mrs. Norris, I know they're here somewhere"_

_Filch only gave a cursory glance around the room from his position in the hall, narrowly missing the pile of boys behind the door. _

"_We'll catch them one day Mrs. Norris, and when we do…" he gave cackle which rapidly turned into a raking cough. After he had regained the ability to breathe he continued his search down the hall._

_The boys immediately began gulping in air, apparently running, then holding your breath was not a good idea… big surprise there. Once they had stopped seeing spots, Sirius wandered around the room while James peeked his head out the door._

"_Okay guys, the coast is clear, we'll make a run for it on three… wait where's Sirius?" James whispered quietly_

"_Over here" Sirius yelled a little too loudly._

_They all turned towards the voice and rolled their eyes "Sirius" James mumbled exasperatedly "would you stop preening and get over here!" _

_Sirius was standing in front of an overly large mirror, apparently checking himself out. "Guys come here, you have to see this!" he yelled excitedly_

"God I look good" the present Sirius remarked, Lily just rolled her eyes and whacked him over the head.

"_Padfoot, we see enough of your ugly face every day, we don't need to see it again…" James replied, to which Remus gave a rather undignified snort._

"_Har, har; just get over here!" Sirius shot back._

"_I like this mirror, I have a Harem!" Sirius smirked roguishly._

"_What?" James asked, not sure he had heard right_

"_When I look in this mirror I see a bevy of beautiful women surrounding me… do you think it shows the future?" Sirius asked hopefully_

_James let out a snort "You wish Padfoot!"_

"_Fine! You give it a try, see what you see!" Sirius said while pushing James in front of the mirror. James stood staring stupidly at the mirror for a couple of seconds before rapidly turning around to find where the reflection was coming from. After determining there was not in fact anybody behind him he turned back around and smiled an indulgent smile at the mirror._

_Taking his reaction as an affirmative Sirius gloated "see, I told you, a whole lot of beautiful women!"_

"_No, only one…" James murmured_

"_Who?" Sirius asked, but he knew the answer, he finally recognised the expression on James' face, the look he got whenever he was looking at Evans._

"_Lily…" James replied dreamily. Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed James out of the way saying chirpily "Moony's turn!"_

_Sirius dragged Remus over, pointedly ignoring James' glare for cutting his Evans daydream short._

_Remus did not look happy however as he stared at his reflection, merely depressed; quickly losing interest in the reflection itself, his eyes flickered to the Latin inscription around the top of the mirror. After studying the gilded writing for a few moments, he sighed and said "I think it shows you the deepest desire of your heart" before he moved away from the mirror._

_Noticing the saddened look in Remus' eyes, James asked "Why Moony, what did you see?"_

_Remus let out a deep breath "I saw myself walking outside during a full moon in human form" after a few seconds he felt James squeeze his shoulder, and Sirius and Peter walk over to him. This may not have seemed of much comfort to anyone else, but to Remus it meant the world, he knew no matter how bad anything got, he would never be alone._

_Breaking the tension as he usually did James exclaimed "Hey! I just realised! Padfoot's deepest desire is to have a Harem of beautiful women… don't think there's much chance of that happening… do you Moony? I don't think he could get even one girl at Hogwarts to go out with him any more, he just keeps getting uglier and uglier" he smirked at him teasingly, while Sirius let out an indignant "Hey!" this response achieved what James had intended in the first place, a smile out of Remus. Unfortunately for James, Sirius had a comeback that turned the tables on him._

"_And if I remember correctly __**Prongs**__the deepest desire of your heart was Evans…" Both Remus and Sirius chortled at the blush that had suffused over James's face "maybe I should go tell her…" Sirius teased_

_James rolled his eyes "like she would ever believe you! She would probably think it was another prank and hex you into oblivion." Though his comment was intended as a joke, it was easy to detect a hint of wistfulness in his tone._

"_Too true" Sirius replied finally getting a chuckle out of everybody_

_None of them had noticed Peter had left them until now, he had in fact been staring at his reflection for at least ten minutes._

_Looking for some more ammunition for teasing Sirius asked "Wormtail! What do you see?"_

"_Bet you it's food" James muttered under his breath to the others._

_Peter nearly jumped out of his skin in shock, and quickly said the first thing that came to his mind "chocolate frogs…"_

"_Told you!" James muttered. Sirius rapidly lost interest in Peter's predictable answer and said "we probably should be getting back now, after all, I really need my beauty sleep" as he struck a pose and batted his eyelashes._

"_Oh no we better hurry! Sirius desperately needs all the beauty sleep he can get! Though I doubt it will do him much good!" James smirked impudently_

_After a few minutes it finally sunk in "hey! I resent that" Sirius replied, whacking James over the head._

_None of them suspected that Wormtail had the mental capacity to lie convincingly, in fact, Peter even surprised himself. He followed his friends out of the room in a daze, thinking only of the mirror and the possibilities he had seen in it, very interesting possibilities…_

Ah sorry, didn't mean to show you that much, it just sort of slipped out… anyway, here we go, the last memory, please don't mention this to anyone because it's very personal…

_Sirius was standing on a doorstep in the pouring rain, dragging his trunk behind him. The door rapidly flung open and he was on the receiving end of the wands of James Potter and James' mother and father; after all, one could not be too careful in this day and age._

_Squinting out at him, James muttered questioningly "Sirius?" before dragging the bedraggled boy inside. The minute the light hit his face, James knew there was something wrong, Sirius simply looked like hell._

_He really did look quite the pitiful creature, pale faced, shivering and dripping wet. "It happened… It finally happened… I can't believe it…" Sirius rambled, still in shock._

"_Sirius, slow down" James murmured, dragging Sirius to sit in a chair in front of the fire. After a few moments James asked "What happened Sirius?"_

_Looking up at him, the pain clearly visible in his eyes "I couldn't take it any more, they were pressuring me to become a death eater, I just couldn't do it… " his voice cracked "I stood up to them, and they kicked me out, my own family has disowned me. I have nowhere to go" Sirius was clearly in despair, talking more to himself than to James._

"_Sirius, look at me." James's presence finally broke through to him and he turned towards him "You will always, always have a home here. Those people aren't your family, you disowned them a long time ago, the moment you found out the truth about them. You have me, you have Remus, even Peter, we are your family Sirius. Stay here, you will always be welcome" giving him a brotherly hug "come on"_

Lily and Sirius once again found themselves facing Remus, leaving Sirius looking remarkably uncomfortable after that particular memory.

Lily was looking rather pale and shocked, all she could mutter for some minutes was "ah…"

"He is not a saint Lily, and he isn't perfect, that isn't what we are trying to convey. He is at times arrogant, conceited and completely insufferable, not to mention the fact he seems to have a rather overdeveloped sense of moral outrage, yes he has his flaws, but who doesn't? He is a good man, whether you allow your head to acknowledge it or not; I think in your heart you have known that for a long time." Remus murmured.

Choosing to ignore _that _particular comment, she murmured as she drew in a shaky breath "Can I just ask… do either of you know why James was attacking Severus last night?"

"Oh the idiot!" Remus snorted "I told him not to worry about it, I've gotten so used to the taunts over the years that now I don't even notice them, but James always has to defend me, and sometimes he goes a bit too far. He didn't hurt him _too_ much did he?" Remus replied irreverently.

"No" she said as the tears began to cascade down her face "I hurt James far more with my scathing, unjust words, than he ever hurt Severus. I never truly knew myself till now, I have grossly misjudged him. He was right I didn't even try to get to know him, my pride caused this, and now he hates me"

Before either Sirius or Remus had a chance to correct her assumption she had run off back to her room.

"I hope that worked…" Remus muttered

"So do I Moony, or else Prongs is going to flay us alive" Sirius replied "I still think shoving them in a closet was a much better idea…"

Remus snorted "I have no idea how 'shoving them in a closet' could ever be perceived as a good idea… only in your sick, twisted mind" Sirius gave him a sharp glare while Remus was smirking evilly at him. Unfortunately for them, neither was particularly watching where they were going and Sirius ran headlong into the one person they really did not want to see at the moment… James.

* * *

"Padfoot" Sirius said in an unusually high voice, then he noticed the person cowering behind James "Wormtail" he said his voice dropping a few octaves as he glared at Peter in annoyance, who was after all supposed to have prevented James from leaving their room.

"Sirius! Remus! What the hell have you done?" James vented angrily

There was a chorus of "Ah…" and "well you see…" from them until James cut them off "Peter told me you were talking to Lily" some more glares were directed at Peter "and I saw her a few minutes ago run up to her room bawling her eyes out. Would you care to explain _how_ that happened?" he glared at them for a few moments

Just as Sirius was about to speak, Remus put a restraining hand on him before he said anything stupid, and cleared his throat. "Ah… well… James we were just trying to help, we hate to see you like this and well we thought we could make a difference…" Remus said softly "I'm sorry if it didn't turn out the way we intended…"

"Just stop…" James groaned "I get that you were trying to help, but I can't deal with this right now, just leave it" he muttered as he turned back towards their dormitory.

"Whoops" Sirius muttered while Remus glared at him "I knew this wasn't a good idea" he growled.

* * *

Lily couldn't sleep, every time she closed her eyes her thoughts and memories haunted her, every memory she had of James seemed somehow altered, it was if she was finally _noticing_ what her eyes had seen, but her brain was too proud to acknowledge. The pranks she realised were not so much to hurt people, but to make people laugh; the pranks raised people's spirits in the dark times that were looming, it was after all difficult to feel gloomy when your dinner started doing the Mexican hat dance. They never pranked someone who was vulnerable, only people who they knew could handle it and laugh at themselves, or those who truly deserved it, people like Snape, she was beginning to realise. The Marauders weren't _all_ bad she decided and James… she sighed. He was arrogant, pig-headed, irritating and utterly insufferable and how she loved him for it.

"Oh good lord" she said sitting upright in bed "did I really just think that?"

* * *

"James can I please talk to you for a moment?" he looked up in utter confusion, not sure what to do, he hesitated too long so she grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet, James was now only too happy to acquiesce.

"James I'm sorry, you were right I've never truly taken the time to get to know you, I was always too proud to allow it. Remus and Sirius have opened my eyes, and so now I would like to tell you, even if you understandably don't feel the same way about me any more, that I love you. And not in a friendly way, although I think we could be great friends. And although it seems sudden, and I am sure you probably don't believe I am telling the truth, after all not three days ago I was professing my everlasting hatred of you. The truth is I've never been indifferent to you, you raised my ire, but nobody could ever anger me as much as you could. I do not know when I began to fall in love with you, but it has been there in my heart for a while, my head just refused to acknowledge it. I love you. Very simply, very truly. You're the epitome of every attribute and quality I've ever looked for in another person." She then took a steadying breath before wrapping her arms around him and giving him a soft kiss. "I just wanted to let you know, and to apologise" she murmured before she stepped back. She had hardly gone very far before she felt James' arms rap around her, the largest smile she had ever seen graced his face

"Lily… you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that; I loved you since the day I met you, I have loved you more and more every day since and I will continue to do so till the day I die" he dragged her back towards him, intent on kissing her again. Now that he had her, he did not intend letting go of her ever again.

"But you are at times an insufferable git and you know and you really shouldn't…" James had just discovered a wonderful way to shut her up… to kiss her.

He sighed 'I suppose I will have to apologise to Moony and Padfoot now' he grumbled to himself, he was in for the biggest 'I told you so' of his life.

* * *

AN: And yes… I am aware I haven't been near my stories for probably almost a year now, I will get back to them… eventually. I am terribly sorry to the people who were reading them. My life is hell and has been for quite a while. Not entirely sure when it is going to settle down, but when it does will get back to them. Had this story on my computer for a while now… and decided to post it (I mostly wrote it for myself as a kind of prequel to my story HP and the Legacy of Re-Herakty just to get a feel for the characters) but I read it again and thought it was kinda cute (even if it is fluffy cheese) so here we are.

I think I have fulfilled my rambling quota for the day.

Incongruous Irrelevance.

Let me know if you thought the fluffy cheese tasted alright…


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